Pan Am about to make its final exit - USATODAY.com Need help financing or refinancing a home? Click here PAN AMERICAN AIRWAYS TIMELINE 1927 With Juan T. Trippe as chief, three companies merge to form the airline. Carries mail to Havana from Miami. 1937 Begins seaplane service between the USA and Europe. 1930s Adopts nautical-style uniforms to compete with ocean liners. Nov. 22, 1935 Makes first flight from San Francisco to Honolulu to Hong Kong to Auckland, New Zealand, in a Martin M-130 Flying Boat. 1943 President Franklin Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to fly abroad aboard Pan Am's Dixie Clipper. Oct. 26, 1958 Pan Am Boeing 707 makes the first jet-powered trans-Atlantic commercial flight. April 1966 Places initial order for 25 Boeing 747s, the world's first jumbo jet. Jan. 21, 1970 Pan Am's Clipper Victor makes first scheduled commercial trans-oceanic flight by a 747.

1973 Arab oil embargo causes Pan Am to suffer significant financial losses from high fuel costs. 1980 Pan Am acquires National Airlines to better compete in a newly deregulated U.S. industry. 1986 Pan Am sells its Pacific Division to United Airlines. Dec. 21, 1988 Flight 103 blows up over Lockerbie, Scotland, shortly after departing London for New York. 270 people killed. October 1990 Sells its London route rights to United. Jan. 8, 1991 Files for bankruptcy protection. Dec. 4, 1991 Shuts down. Jan. 31, 2001 Libyan intelligence agent Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi convicted of the Flight 103 bombing. Feb. 18, 2005 Pan Am, its insurers and Libyan negotiators settle a long-running civil lawsuit over the bombing of Flight 103. Libya agrees to pay an undisclosed sum to insurers and $33 million to Pan Am, of which about $30 million is to be split among ticket holders and former employees.

December 2006 Final distribution checks to be mailed to about 15,000 former Pan Am employees, 8,000 ticket holders and 1,500 other creditors. SEARCHING FOR THOSE ELIGIBLE The Pan Am Liquidation Trust has been unable to find thousands of former employees, ticket holders and creditors owed money in the final payout. If those people don't come forward, their share of the final $30 million payout will be divided among those who are known. To notify the trust of your eligibility, or of the eligibility of someone you know, contact the trust's representative at Wells Fargo Bank at 866-631-0175. More information is available at the trust's Web site, . Pan Am about to make its final exit Updated 10/31/2006 9:57 AM ET E-mail | Print | By Dan Reed, USA TODAY It's been nearly 15 years, but Jim Kane still dreams at night about his old company, Pan American World Airways. "They're vivid dreams," says the former maintenance contract manager at Pan Am's old hangar at New York John F. Kennedy Airport.

"I see specific assignments I worked on, lots of details, specific people I worked with." Come December, maybe those dreams can stop. That's when Kane and about 15,000 other former employees of what was touted as "The World's Most Experienced Airline" will receive their final paychecks. An additional 8,000 people who held tickets on Pan Am at the time of its shutdown in December 1991 are also in line for payments, as are about 1,500 other creditors. The checks won't be large, probably only a few hundred dollars on average for former employees, says New York attorney Walter Curchack, head of the Pan Am Liquidation Trust. They will be about 5 or 6 cents on the dollar of what the recipients were owed when the company collapsed. The money, the first to be paid to creditors of the Pan Am estate in 10 years, is coming from a $30 million legal settlement with Libya in the long-running civil lawsuit over the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988.

In 2001, Libyan intelligence agent Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi was convicted of the Flight 103 bombing. That permitted attention to turn to issues of civil law. It's taken an additional five years for Libya to settle the civil damages with the liquidation trust and with insurers of the plane. Separately, Libya has paid benefits to victims' families. Once the settlement checks are sent out, Curchack will shut down the Pan Am Liquidation Trust, and the last legal vestige of the original corporate entity founded in 1927 will cease to exist. Of course, Pan Am hasn't really been an airline since Dec. 4, 1991, when it shut down after Delta Air Lines walked away from a possible deal to buy it. A good argument can be made that it wasn't much of one for years before that because of its serious financial difficulties. Until the 1970s, Pan Am had been known as "The Chosen Instrument." It earned that nickname because U.S. government policymakers favored it when deciding which carriers would be authorized to carry U.S. travelers to foreign lands. Though privately owned, Pan Am received the same kind of favorable treatment as government-owned foreign carriers.

In the 1930s and early 1940s, the government allowed only Pan Am to fly outside the USA. International routes began to open up in the late 1940s. TWA received authority to fly to Europe; Braniff to Latin America, the predecessor of today's Northwest to Japan. Still, only Pan Am was allowed to serve all those regions, plus Africa, the Middle East and Central and South Asia. The jet age was not kind to Pan Am. With its late 1950s orders for Boeing 707s and Douglas DC-8s, Pan Am was a pioneer of the technology that promised to shrink the globe and foster a boom in international travel. Yet the resulting surge in international travel also created lots of competition for Pan Am. In 1966, when it persuaded Boeing to build the world's first jumbo jet, the 747, it was writing the beginning of its own economic end. Pan Am bought 72 of the big planes and operated as many as 64 of them at once. The massive, bump-nosed 747 was a technological marvel and a thing of beauty to airline buffs.

But it was so big that it became a financial albatross. Pan Am never could consistently fill its fleet of 747s with enough passengers to cover the expense of flying them. Then, in 1978, the U.S. government deregulated the domestic air market. For decades, Pan Am had a near-monopoly on foreign routes and long had pummeled foreign airlines in competition for high-fare-paying U.S. business travelers flying abroad. But under deregulation, it couldn't compete against other U.S. carriers as they expanded into foreign markets, fed by passengers and cash flowing from their sprawling domestic route networks. Traveling in style Pan Am itself never developed such a network. When it tried to buy one, it grossly overpaid for the former National Airlines. The only net profits Pan Am reported in its last 20-plus years of operation came in those years when it sold off big chunks of itself: its landmark Manhattan headquarters building, a subsidiary that serviced the space shuttles, its rights to serve London's Heathrow Airport and, its crown jewel, the famed Pacific Division. Finally, the Lockerbie bombing just before Christmas 1988 destroyed what confidence the traveling public still had in Pan Am.

It entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 1991 and managed to stay in the air for nearly a year after that by selling seats at well below cost and by selling assets. For the most part, though, that's not the Pan Am that its former employees and loyal former customers remember. They remember the carrier that taught Americans how to travel in style. "You'll never get on an airline that is as good as Pan Am was," says 83-year-old Mary Goshgarin, the unofficial keeper of the Pan Am flame. For 35 years she worked in the Clipper Club, Pan Am's lounge for VIPs at the Miami airport. Now she runs, on a strictly volunteer basis, the Pan Am Aware store, a treasure trove of Pan Am memorabilia at the Miami airport. "We loved this company. This company was the best. We were family, still are," she says. She cried, she says, when she heard that the company that bought the rights to the Pan Am name and globe logo had begun plastering them on railroad freight cars. Goshgarin is not among those who expect to receive a check from the Liquidation Trust in December.

Most who will receive the payments were with the company up to its last day. Goshgarin, though, retired in spring 1991. But she has a lot of friends who stayed to the very end. "They're excited about getting a little bit more money now. It won't be much. But they weren't planning on getting anything, so it's found money." Ed Trippe won't be receiving any money, either. He spent 20 years as an executive at InterContinental Hotels, originally a Pan Am subsidiary. But the closing of the final chapter of the Pan Am saga is not without special meaning to him. He literally grew up with the company founded by his world famous father, Juan T. Trippe. Today, Ed Trippe is chairman of the Pan Am Historical Foundation. "I can't say the closing of this final chapter brings any particular emotion," Trippe said from his office in Bermuda, where he is developing an exclusive hotel and resort community. But he's emotionally tied to the thousands of former employees and customers whose love for his father's old company continues unabated. "What's really amazing to me is how many Pan Ammers around the world are still close and involved," Trippe says.

Last weekend, several thousand former Pan Am flight attendants gathered for the annual convention of their group, World Wings International. A pilots group, the Clipper Pioneers, still gathers. "In some ways, Pan Am is more alive now than ever," says Jeff Kriendler, a South Florida resident who was the airline's last vice president of corporate communications. "In light of the quality of service on airlines today, there are lots of people out there still nursing fond memories of Pan Am's service." Kriendler acknowledges that the air market barely skipped a beat when Pan Am went out of business. "But you can say that about every airline that's gone out of business," he says. "Any hole left in the market by a carrier's demise is filled in almost overnight by other airlines." The same can't be said for all the workers displaced by the shutdown of airlines such as Pan Am. Fallout for workers Kane, for example, was never able to fully capitalize on his years of experience in managing aircraft and engine maintenance operations. After Pan Am shut down, he discovered that the job market for experienced aircraft maintenance managers in their 50s was almost non-existent. A job with a cargo carrier lasted only a few months.

And there was a consulting gig with Tower Air, now out of business. Now, when asked if he's retired, the 68-year-old Kane's stock answer is, "Not voluntarily." Kane says he expects a few hundred dollars in the liquidation, a fraction of the compensation he was owed. Enough time has passed that the event has little meaning for him. "The book on Pan Am has been closed for me for a long time now," he says. His memories, like his dreams, are mostly fond ones. When people learn where he worked, "They always say how much they miss our service, how much they miss our planes. That makes me feel good about what kind of company we ran. And my wife and I got to travel the world. It was nice for us." Posted 10/30/2006 11:58 PM ET Updated 10/31/2006 9:57 AM ET history of Delta Airlines Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames.

Delta Airlines Delta Air Linesï¿½ long history of service actually began in agriculture, when the company was founded in 1924 as the worldï¿½s first aerial crop dusting organization -- Huff Daland Dusters. In fact, if the boll weevil had not marched out of Mexico prior to the turn of this century to devastate the cotton fields of the South, there might not have been a Delta Air Lines. When the weevilï¿½s relentless destruction reached the Mississippi Valley, such a serious economic threat faced the South that the Bureau of Entomology operated a laboratory in Tallulah, Louisiana, as the base for an intensified cotton insect investigation. Directing the activities at the laboratory was Dr. B. R. Extension Department of Coad, assisted by a young district agent with the Louisiana State University, C. E. Woolman. Woolman, an agricultural engineering graduate of the University of Illinois, was also an aviation enthusiast. Since the airplane was little more than a novelty with an uncertain future then, Woolman settled for the more certain future of agriculture. By 1916, Dr. Coad and Woolman had their first promising weapon -- lead arsenate, a dry powder.

What was needed was a method of application that would be faster and more effective than hand sprinkling. Application by air seemed most practical, and Dr. Coad obtained a small appropriation from Congress to pursue this experiment. For more long years, Coadï¿½s entomologists and Woolman worked with two Army-furnished Jennys, experimenting and perfecting dusting procedures. In 1923, fate gave the experiments a new future. George Post, an executive of an Ogdensburg, New York, airplane manufacturer, was forced down in Tallulah when his plane developed mechanical problems. Post was so enthusiastic about the aerial crop dusting activities he discovered while in Tallulah that he convinced his companyï¿½s management to form a separate division -- the Huff Daland Dusters. Huff Daland Dusters started operations in 1924 at Macon, Georgia, but a lack of experience and the small number of cotton fields in the area resulted in an unsuccessful first season. Dr. Coad, an interested observer from the Louisiana government laboratory, suggested the Dusters move there. Thus, in 1925 headquarters were established at Monroe, Louisiana.

On May 30, 1925, Woolman left the Agriculture Extension Service to take charge of Huff Dalandï¿½s entomological work as vice president and field manager. To the company he brought a genial personality, integrity and a stubborn resistance to failure -- traits which have endured at Delta. The parent company, Huff Daland Manufacturing in New York, built the first planes ever specifically designed for dusting, and Huff Daland Dustersï¿½ fleet became the largest privately-owned aircraft fleet in the world with 18 planes. The number soon grew to 25 small planes and some larger planes, called "Ton of Dust." Since the dusting company had an income only during summer months, Woolman decided to shift operations during non-productive months to Peru where seasons are reversed. It was in Peru that Woolman first visualized the future of passenger service by air, and he successfully secured South American airmail rights over stiff competition to become the first American airline operator south of the equator in the western hemisphere. Service from Peru to Ecuador, a 1,500-mile route, was inaugurated in 1927.

Returning to Monroe in 1928, Woolman found the parent company, Huff Daland Manufacturing, attempting to sell the dusting division. He quickly aroused the interest of Monroe businessmen who purchased Huff Dalandï¿½s equipment. The companyï¿½s name was changed to Delta Air Service ("Delta" for the Mississippi Delta), with D.Y. Smith as the first president and Woolman retaining his title of vice president and general manager. Back in Peru, a revolution was erupting, and as the few planes and equipment remaining there attracted revolutionariesï¿½ attention as military tools, Woolman sold his South American dusters in 1928 to a Peruvian firm. He sold the airmail route to Pan American Grace, forming the nucleus of Panagra. The companyï¿½s U.S. dusting operations continued until 1966, but new undertakings were underway in 1928 as Delta Air Service purchased three five-passenger, 90-mile-per-hour Travel Air monoplanes.

On June 17, 1929, over an original route that stretched from Dallas, Texas, to Jackson, Mississippi, with stops in Shreveport and Monroe, Louisiana, Delta operated its first passenger flight. As additional planes were delivered from the factory, service was extended eastward to Birmingham, Alabama, and westward to Fort Worth, Texas. This represented a bold financial venture since the route was operated without benefit of a mail contract, and revenue from airmail was needed to supplement passenger operating expenses. The year 1930 brought news that the Post Office Department had awarded the badly needed airmail contract for the Southern route to a rival airline. Dusting operations were expanded and Dr. Coad joined Delta as chief entomologist. In 1934, Delta had an opportunity to win back the route it had pioneered from Dallas/ Ft. Worth to Birmingham as the Post Office cancelled all airmail contracts and called for new bids. Deltaï¿½s bid won the airmail contract for the route from Fort Worth to Charleston, South Carolina, via Atlanta. Deltaï¿½s first airmail flight on July 4, 1934, was flown by Stinson T aircraft.

The planes were capable of carrying seven passengers and the mail at speeds of 100 miles per hour. From this point the airlineï¿½s climb to prominence in air transportation was firmly established. While Delta was busy developing its Southern route, three other pioneer airlines, each destined to play key roles in Deltaï¿½s future, were developing: two in the West and one in the Northeast. Chicago and Southern Air Lines (C&S) became part of Delta through a merger in 1953. Northeast Airlines merged with Delta in 1972. Western Air Lines was merged into Delta in 1987. Chicago and Southernï¿½s founder, Carleton Putnam, began his career in law and politics before discovering aviation. While walking down a New York City street one day, he saw an airplane for sale and bought it. He arranged for flying lessons packaged as a cross-country flight, and by the time he reached California, Putnam had decided to try his hand in the field of air transportation. Putnamï¿½s new airline, Pacific Seaboard Air Lines, made its first flight on June 25, 1933, without benefit of an airmail contract.

Flying from Los Angeles along the seaboard route to San Francisco, the airline stopped at Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Paso Robles, Salinas and Monterey. In 1934, the Post Office Departmentï¿½s call for new bids on all airmail routes gave Putnam hope for financial stability, and he sought one of these contracts. When his bid for the Chicago-New Orleans route won, he shifted operations to the Mississippi Valley. Putnamï¿½s airline inaugurated mail service between Chicago and New Orleans via Memphis on June 3, 1934; passengers were first flown on July 13, 1934. In December 1935, the company name was changed to Chicago and Southern Air Lines. Meanwhile, the Northeast, Boston and Maine Airways, made its first flight on August 11, 1933, from Boston to Portland and Bangor, Maine, using eight-passenger Stinson T equipment. A subsidiary of the Boston and Maine Railroad Company, the carrierï¿½s first flights were operated under contract by National Airways whose founders included Paul Collins, one of the countryï¿½s first airmail pilots; Samuel J.

Solomon, a pioneer airport operator; Eugene Vidal, a West Point graduate; and Amelia Earhart, the famed aviatrix. The first company headquarters were located in a hangar on a hay field at Scarboro, Maine, just south of the Portland Airport. At the end of the winter, a heated hangar became available in Boston, and headquarters were transferred there. In 1937, Boston and Maine purchased National Airwaysï¿½ assets, including its airmail contract, and in November 1940, the airline was renamed Northeast Airlines. Western Air Express was incorporated on July 13, 1925. Harris Hanshue, first president and general manager, and Major Corliss Mosely, vice president and director of operations, bid for the new airmail route from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City and were granted the route in November 1925. The new airlineï¿½s first flight took the mail from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City on April 17, 1926. The first passengers were carried, riding on folding seats in the mail compartment, on May 3, 1926, from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles.

Mail routes were expanded, and in May 1928 new passenger service was added between Los Angeles and San Francisco. On board, passengers were served meals prepared by a posh Los Angeles restaurant. By mid 1930, Western had the largest air system in the world, covering 16,000 miles with 40 aircraft. Fortunes took a sudden change in 1930 with the passage of the Watres Bill which forced a merger of the routes of Western and Transcontinental Air Transport. Western was left with only a few routes and the company payroll was cut by two-thirds. Still, Western kept flying its original Los Angeles to Salt Lake City route. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Western began to regroup by operating in conjunction with United Air Lines as "through" flights. National Park Airways became a part of Western in 1937, expanding the company into the Montana region. The year 1941 saw Western Air Express change its name to Western Air Lines as passengers overtook postage as Westernï¿½s primary business.

The year 1941 also brought a major change to Delta Air Lines as the companyï¿½s general offices and overhaul base were moved from Monroe to Atlanta. The year also brought the four young airlines -- Delta, C&S, Northeast and Western -- into World War II and a period when growth slowed, then stopped, as they directed their energies to the war effort. When the fighting stopped, the four airlines renewed their growth as their airplanes, personnel and passengers returned from the war. Like many airlines in the early 1950s, C&S began to consider the prospect of a merger as a method of expanding its route system. With the complementary character of Delta and C&Sï¿½s combined route maps and the fact that both companies shared a common business philosophy, a merger appeared natural. On May 1, 1953, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) formally transferred the routes of Chicago and Southern to Delta Air Lines. The years following the merger saw new growth and strengthening of the companyï¿½s prominence in air transportation.

Delta became a jet leader among the worldï¿½s airlines, becoming the first to introduce the DC-8 (in 1959), CV-880 (in 1960) and DC-9 (in 1965) to passenger service. While Delta was setting the industry lead in jet service, Northeast, too, was busy introducing jets. In 1959 the airline became one of the first U.S. carriers offering Boeing 707 service when it began jet flights on the New York to Miami route. In 1965, Storer Broadcasting Company purchased Northeast, and the next year the carrier acquired a new image as Northeast aircraft became known as Yellowbirds because of their new yellow and white exteriors. Yellowbird would become a household word in the area served. In the late 1960s, Northeast received several new routes, but its financial problems failed to improve. It was these difficulties that led to the search for a merger partner, and on August 1, 1972, the merger between Delta and Northeast Airlines became effective.

Meanwhile, Western expanded its route system to the international destinations of Mexico City, Mexico, and Calgary, Canada, in the late 1950s. The airlineï¿½s jet age arrived in June 1959 when the first Western jet flew from Los Angeles to Seattle, and in July 1969, the long-sought California-Hawaii route was begun. Deltaï¿½s route system expanded considerably in the 1970s, not only through the Northeast merger, but also through a series of route awards by the CAB. Deltaï¿½s first transatlantic route was inaugurated April 30, 1978, from Atlanta to London. The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 brought more changes virtually overnight than had been experienced in the entire 40 years the airlines spent under formal government regulation. Delta continued a steady, controlled growth amid the frenzied expansion of some competitors. For Western, deregulation led to financial difficulties. In early 1984, Western was losing one million dollars a day and its future looked bleak. But by 1985, the airline made nearly a $100 million turnaround.

On September 9, 1986, Delta and Western announced a merger agreement providing for Deltaï¿½s acquisition of Western. Operations of the two airlines were merged April 1, 1987. In 1991, Delta acquired the transatlantic routes of a bankrupt Pan Am and became a major provider of service across the Atlantic. Delta demonstrated itï¿½s pioneering spirit once again in June 1993 by establishing international code sharing. By combining with other airlines around the globe, service has expanded to include more than 350 cities in over 55 countries. In 1998, Delta made aviation history by carrying over 105 million passengers, breaking the company's previous record of 103 million set in 1997. With 70 years of experience and a renewed commitment to customer satisfaction, Delta now aims to be the best airline in the world. Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames. everythingPanAm The Virtual Pan Am Museum Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) was founded on October 27, 1927 as America's first international airline.

The small company began flying air mail between Key West, Florida and Havana, Cuba. Pan Am would grow to serve most major Latin American cities by the early 1930s. To the left is one of Pan Am's early Foker F-7 aircraft. In 1935 Pan Am would begin Trans-Pacific service to Manila in the Philippines via Hawaii, Midway Island, Wake Island and Guam. Soon thereafter the Manila service would be extended onto Macau and then Hong Kong. The Pacific service was inaugurated with the famous Martin 130 "China Clipper" flying boat which is seen on the right. In 1939 Pan Am would initiate Trans Atlantic service with the Boeing 314 "Yankee Clipper" (seen on the left) Two different routes were operated depending on the season. The northern route included stops in Newfoundland & Ireland en route to South Hampton, England. The southern route operated via Bermuda & the Azores en route to Lisbon, Portugal & Marseille, France. These routes would be curtailed and eliminated as hostilities spread throughout Europe with the outbreak of World War II.

At the out break of the war Pan Am had more experience with long distance flying than the US Air Force and was able to offer unparalleled assistance to the United States in building airports around the globe, training pilots, navigators and radio operators, ferrying supplies & aircraft as well as flying special critical missions. Pan Am's most famous flight of World War II was carrying President Roosevelt to Africa to meet with Stalin & Churchill. The President flew on his birthday and is seen on the right enjoying birthday cake aboard a Pan Am B314 Clipper. After peace was declared in 1945 Pan Am looked to re-establish its pre-war route network - which had been exclusively international. Additionally, Pan Am wanted to add some key domestic "trunk" routes such as; New York-Miami & New York-Chicago-Los Angeles/San Francisco (proposed domestic route map on the left - click to enlarge). These route requests came at the same time that America's domestic airlines were given access to many of Pan Am's international routes; TWA was authorized to fly to Europe. Northwest Airlines was authorized to fly to Asia. United was authorized to fly to Hawaii and both Eastern & American were given access to Mexico & the Caribbean.

Sadly, Pan Am was denied access to domestic routes until 1977 when the airline industry was deregulated. There are some who believe that by then it was too late for Pan Am to ever establish a strong domestic network and that the lack of domestic routes more than any other factor is what caused the demise of Pan Am. In the post WWII environment Pan Am did re-establish much of its international route structure and traded its flying boats for smaller faster & safer land planes. In the late 1940s Pan Am's fleet was composed of Douglas DC3s, DC4s and Lockheed 049 & 749 "Constellations." An example of the DC4 can be seen on the right. In 1947 Pan Am launched "Round the World" service with a Constellation departing New York and flying to San Francisco via points in Europe, The Middle East, India & Asia. The route of the first flight is shown on the right. In 1949 Pan Am introduced the world to the Boeing 377, "Stratocruiser." This double deck piston aircraft offered sleeper seats & berths as well as a lower level lounge.

The Stratocruiser was the height of 1950s flying luxury and would reign as queen of the skies until 1958 when Boeing 707 jet service was inaugurated. To the right is Clipper Fleetwing, (N1037PA), on the ramp at Frankfurt airport. You can see the lower deck lounge windows of the Stratocruiser behind the wing. Below on the left is a Pan Am ad from 1949 showing an artist's rendition of the famous lower deck lounge and a cut-a-way drawing of the Stratocruiser. On the right an ad from 1954 with the super deluxe amenities offered in the forward stateroom of the Stratocruiser. Additionally, in the 1950s Pan Am would add both Douglass DC6s & DC7s to the fleet. These highly economical aircraft allowed Pan Am in 1952 to be the first international airline to petition for and inaugurate "tourist" (economy class) service on many international routes while continuing to expand it list of international destinations.

To the right a Pan Am pilot & flight attendant stand at the nose of Clipper Liberty Bell, (N6519C) a DC 6 aircraft. On October 26, 1958 Pan Am was the first US airline to begin jet service with the Boeing 707 from New York to Paris. Pan Am soon added the Douglass DC8 to the fleet and later in the 1960s would add both the Boeing 720 and Boeing 727-100. To the left a Pan Am 707 in-flight. On January 10, 1970 Pan Am was the first airline to introduce the Boeing 747, "jumbo jet" to the world with service from New York to London. Pan Am would add up to 50 of this aircraft to the fleet. A 747 in Pan Am's inaugural livery is shown landing on the right. In April of 1976 Pan Am was the first airline to introduce the Boeing 747SP (Special Performance) seen in flight on the left (click to enlarge).

This smaller (by 47 feet) version of the 747 allowed Pan Am for many years to fly the longest non-stop flights in the world, including New York - Tokyo, New York- Dhahran , San Francisco - Hong Kong and Los Angeles - Sydney. In 1978 Pan Am proposed a merger with National Airlines to allow the company to quickly acquire domestic routes with the advent of airline deregulation in the United States. Two other airlines, Texas International and Eastern Airlines began a bidding war driving up the price of the transaction while the US Justice Department reviewed the merger proposal for anti-trust implications. There are many who feel that in the end Pan Am paid too much for National Airlines but just to have purchased National's fleet of aircraft Pan Am would have paid nearly the price of the merger at $400 million. In 1979 Pan Am upgraded its 747SP fleet with sleeper seats in first class shown below on the left. Pan Am called these seats "Sleeperettes" a name that was first used on the Boeing 377 Stratocruisers in the 1950s.

The new generation of Sleeperette seats were an immediate success and in 1980 Pan Am upgraded its entire long haul fleet with sleeperettes in first class. Also in 1980 Pan Am was the first US airline and one of the first international airlines to offer a dedicated business class section on long haul flights. Pan Am called its business cabin "Clipper Class." A picture of Clipper Class circa 1987 is seen below on the right. In January of 1980 the Pan Am - National merger was approved and over the next three years Pan Am would merge National's fleet of DC-10s and Boeing 727s as well as National's operations and personnel into the Pan Am network. Also in 1980 Pan Am received the first of 12 Lockheed L1011-500s (seen on the right). This smaller version of the Lockheed Tri-star was put to use on long haul routes with less traffic than a 747 could support. Finally, in 1980 that Pan Am sold the Pan Am building for $400 million.

In the summer of 1984 Pan Am signed an agreement with Airbus Industries to add A300s, A310s and A320s to the fleet. The A300s joined the fleet in the late fall of 1984 and the A310 began to arrive in the spring of 1986 making Pan Am the first US airline to fly the A310. An example of the A310-300 series can be seen on the left. The A320s never joined Pan Am. The production line slots were sold to Northwest Airlines. In 1985 in an effort to stem losses and reduce debt Pan Am agreed to sell its Pacific route network to United. United assumed the routes in February of 1986. To the right a former Pan Am 747SP with a United tail logo and Pan Am racing stripe, (click on image to enlarge). United absorbed the Pan Am routes overnight and it took several months for United to repaint the 747SPs & L1011s acquired with the route purchase.

With the Pacific route sale Pan Am focused it's business on Europe, The Middle East, India, Pakistan, Africa, as well as Central & South America. In December of 1988 Pan Am flight 103 en route from London to New York was blown up by a terrorist bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland with the loss of all 270 souls aboard. The controversy that surrounded the circumstances of the bombing would scare away customers severely weakening Pan Am. To the right, flying in happier days, is N739PA the aircraft lost at Lockerbie, (click on image to enlarge). In the summer of 1990 just as Pan Am was rebounding from the Lockerbie bombing Iraq invaded Kuwait and many Americans canceled travel plans abroad. This hurt Pan Am greatly during the peak summer travel months. As America began to move troops to the Middle East in the fall of 1991 in preparation for Desert Storm potential customers continued to shy away from international travel. Pan Am was especially vulnerable as it had the least significant domestic network of all the major US airlines. Pan Am files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January of 1991 about three weeks before Operation Desert Storm commenced.

In spite of its precarious financial situation Pan Am operated many troop charters prior to, during and after operation Desert Storm. The flights were operated with all volunteer crews and were staged from Pan Am's Frankfurt and Rome stations. To the right Clipper Ocean Spray, (N744PA), proudly wearing a yellow ribbon arrives home with a soldier displaying the American flag from the cockpit escape hatch. To pay off debt and remain in business Pan Am agreed to sell its North-east Shuttle and Atlantic routes to Delta Air Lines. Pan Am was to return to its roots flying between the US & Latin America. Part of the sale agreement required Delta to both fund and support (marketing & code-share) Pan Am's new Latin venture. When the agreement was signed in the summer of 1991 Pan Am's senior management departed and Delta appointed Russell Ray to Shepard Pan Am through the transition. Throughout the late summer & early Fall of 1991 all Pan Am initiatives had to be approved by Delta. There was a great deal of foot dragging on all requests sent to Atlanta. Delta took over the Pan Am Shuttle in September of 1991 and the Atlantic routes on November 1, 1991.

Also on November 1st Pan Am II was launched. Pan Am II flew for a month with bases in New York & Miami. To the left the first Delta 727 pulls up to the Pan Am shuttle gates at New York LaGuardia the day before Delta took over the operation (click on image to enlarge). During the first few days of December meetings were held and Delta declared that Pan Am was "not making its numbers." Delta then decided to withdraw funding from Pan Am II and the company shut down on December 4, 1991. Though Delta was correct in the "letter of the law" there are many who believe that in the "spirit of the law" Delta failed greatly in its commitment to seeing Pan Am survive - especially as Delta had tied Pan Am's hands in the summer & fall of 1991 when Pan Am needed to be taking initiatives to ensure the reorganized company would thrive. Thus ended the life of one of the world's greatest airlines. To the right the "P" is missing from the top of the Pan Am building as the company logo was removed from its former Manhattan headquarters in 1992.

Search everythingPanAm.com Pan Am II (1996 - 1998) In early 1996 some financial investors retained former Pan Am President, Martin Shugrue, to re-launch Pan Am. Based in Miami Pan Am II had hoped to launch service in May. However, due to changes in the certification process (that occurred during Pan Am's filing) the launch was postponed. The inaugural flights were New York - JFK to Miami & Los Angeles in September of 1996. Below a crew from Pan Am II pose with an Airbus A300. The white uniform jackets worn by the ladies were reminiscent of the white serving jackets worn by flight stewards of the original Pan Am in the 1950s and 1960s. Pan Am II began with a fleet of three former Eastern Airlines Airbus A300s and grew to a fleet of five adding frequencies to Miami & Los Angeles as well as adding JFK-San Juan Service. To the left is a brochure promoting service from New York to Los Angeles. In the New York - Florida market Pan Am II attempted to gain market share by introducing "commuter" programs.

The deeply discounted tickets were intended to lock in regular customers especially during the winter months when many New Yorkers travel back & forth to Miami & Ft. Lauderdale. If Pan Am II had lasted longer the program might have caught on. Sample promotional material can be seen to the right.

Question: In what year did US airline 'Pan Am' fold?
Answer: 1991